How can you, as a home care client or family member, best use this information? In short, be engaged and be constructive, and ask questions.  Try the following steps:

1. Review each of the different indicators (e.g. falls, skin ulcers, worsening bladder function) and see which ones apply to you.
2. For each indicator, read the brief description about what the indicator means and the ideas for improvement.  (For example, for falls, ideas for improvement include better lighting, reduced clutter, loose carpets, lower beds, hand rails, assistive devices, etc.) 
3. Discuss with your home care case manager or staff whether or not the different ideas for improvement are applicable to you, or if they’ve been tried already, or if there are different ways of trying them that you haven’t thought of before.  (For example, perhaps safety hazards were removed in the bedroom but not in other parts of the house.)
4. Ask if you’ve ever had a check for safety hazards in the home by home care staff. 
5. Check to see if you are taking one of the medications on the Beers list of drugs to be avoided in the elderly.  (Click here for the list.)  If you are visit your family doctor and ask if it might be possible to stop the medication and substitute for a safer medication in its place.